Wrexham council faces £40m cuts over the next five years

A COUNCIL is preparing to cut a staggering £40m from its budget over the next five years.

A COUNCIL is preparing to cut a staggering £40m from its budget over the next five years.

Wrexham council chiefs revealed the shocking figure after talks with local government chiefs showed the outlook for funding is bleak over the coming years.

If the estimates are realised, it would mean by 2018 Wrexham’s net budget will have been slashed from £212m to £172m.

It will mean more cuts to services, which have already been hit in recent years, with nothing off the table.

Exactly where the cuts will be made are yet to be debated, but it comes on the back of £8.1m cuts to the 2011/12 budget.

Wrexham council’s lead member for policy, finance, governance and performance, Cllr Malcolm King said: “We have been used to the idea that there would be a pretty bad year, then a not so bad year for cuts. But that is not the case now.

“For next year, we are having to make £3.9m, of which we have found about £3m, but it gets very tough after that. The last two of the five years we may be looking at £9m cuts each year.

“We are talking eight years of financial reductions now, and after that – who knows?

“In modern times, since the war, I don’t think we have seen anything like this.

“This is not just an issue that Wrexham is facing, but every council across Britain.”

Conwy council’s strategic director for finance and efficiencies, Andrew Kirkham, said: “In Conwy we are currently working towards 2014/2015 in our plans and for the next 2 years we are looking at approximately £5m annual savings.

“We cannot predict what savings will be required beyond that point because of the uncertainties involved, such as the impact of the next comprehensive spending review and future elections.”

Cllr Peredur Jenkins, Gwynedd council’s cabinet member for resources said: “We already have in place a comprehensive savings strategy to deliver £37m of savings between 2011/12 and 2014/15 to address the shortfall in government funding.

“As a council, we anticipate that further substantial cuts to public spending will continue until at least 2016/17 and, as a result, that we will have to find further significant savings over and above the £37m we have already planned for.

“Over the coming weeks, we will be undertaking detailed work on the council’s budget for 2013/14.

“As part of this exercise we will be reviewing our savings strategy in light of the fact that further deep cuts in our funding are set to continue.”

On Friday the Welsh Local Government Association will debate the issue of future budget cuts and their impact at a conference.

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